McGrady Era officially over in Houston, Rockets acquire BoshTracy McGrady will be back in a familiar environment. The declining star, hobbled the past year by a knee industry, was sent back to his former team, the Toronto Raptors, in exchange for forward Chris Bosh. The deal sent McGrady, young forward Carl Landry, sohphomore center Joey Dorsey and the expiring contracts of Brent Barry and Mark Madsen to the Raptors in exchange for Bosh, forward Kris Humphries, forward Reggie Evans and guard Marcus Banks.
Like the trade with Minnesota, general manager Daryl Morey had to take back several bad contracts to make the deal happen, but feels that it is well worth it. "Bringing in a talent like Chris is a rare opportunity. We believe that we were missing one piece to push us to a tier 1 team. We now have incredible front court depth, perhaps the scariest tandem in the league with Chris and Yao." The roster, however, is now unbalanced. The only wings that remain on the team are Ron Artest and Chase Budinger. "If the season was starting tomorrow," continued Morey, "we'd be worried. Luckily, we've got some options, whether it's free agency or a trade. Hopefully we can move things ahead with Von [Wafer] and take a look at some other options." Sources inside the organization indicate that the Rockets are interested in bringing in former Raptor Anthony Parker to take a Shane Battier-like role on the perimeter.
For the Raptors, the trade was a way to get what they could with Bosh's talent. The Raptors' offseason was largely unsuccessful, as Shawn Marion bolted for 76ers, and Anthony Parker remains a free agent. That left the wing positions manned by rookie DeMar DeRozan and aging forward Ime Udoka, with only D-League all-star Jawad Williams to back them up. With Chris Bosh vocally upset about the management's ability to handle the roster, and with the losing season, it was unlikely that he would re-sign with the team following the 2009-2010 season. Said general manager Bryan Colangelo: "We didn't want to take a risk of getting nothing back for the talent that Chris is. We believe that Carl can bring explosiveness to the power forward position on our team, and has the range to slide down to the 3. We like Joey's chances as a defensive enforcer in the league. We also got some talented veterans to help our locker room, as well as keeping our financial flexibility to a maximum. We're also excited to bring Tracy in to see how he does this year. We won't speculate when he could play for us, but it looks like it'll be sooner rather than later."
With the Raptors rebuilding and the Rockets contending, it looks as if the deal benefits both squads. Of course, the major problem is Chris Bosh's ability to keep his nick name, CB4. "(laughing) No, I think Luis [Scola] has more than earned the right to keep number 4," said Bosh. "You can call me CB40 now." With a few more moves, this Rockets team could bring some optimism to the sports world in Houston.
